Every month, I am participating in “La photo du mois” and publish a picture according to a theme. All the pictures are published on the 15th of each month at noon, Paris time. This month, the theme picked by Viviane is:” sun”. I took this picture at our local temple, Taisanj-ji. I think the sun trying to get into the temple through one of the side doors give a little mystery to the picture.

We went to Kobe’s Chinatown or Nankinmachi for the Chinese New Year. We must have picked the day with the least activities because the atmosphere was really understated. There are two Chinatown in Japan one in Kobe and the other in Yokohama. In Kobe, this neighborhood is pretty small with only 1 main street and a couple of cross streets. Since my last visit in 2003, nothing seems to have changed much, there is still the same dim sum place where people are lining up. I finally tried them and was so disappointed (I love dim sum), way too greasy! Ah, Kobe’s Chinatown doesn’t have a good reputation for its restaurant, a lot of locals have confirmed it. Thinking about it, I went to many Chinatown during my travels (New York, Seattle, Chicago, Vancouver, Portland, San Francisco, Paris, Yokohama). They all have their own characteristics for example, the one in San Francisco had really beautiful facades, the Japanese supermarket Uwajimaya in Seattle, Chinatown in Vancouver was strangely scary I thought, the one in Portland had a beautiful Chinese garden…etc…in the end they were all different but at the same time all the same! Back to our topic, the 2011 Chinese New Year. We saw a tai-chi demonstration (Chinese martial art), saw a couple of food booths and many beautiful lanterns…however we were not able to spot a rabbit. Anyway, Happy New Year to you all!

This weekend we went to the Arima Onsen area 4 stations away from us in the middle of the mountains here in Kobe. The resort town is well known for its spas and also because Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who ruled over Japan in the 16th century, liked to stroll in one of its garden and play go.

statue de Hideyoshi, Hideyoshi’s statue

emplacement ou il jouait au go, this is where he used to play go

premières feuilles d’automne, first Fall colors

Arima et aussi connu pour son artisanat du bambou, Arima is also well known for its bamboo craft

I don’t have any pictures of the bath itself but we went to the Kin no Yu, the water was as hot as 108 & 111 F. Quite hot, but believe me you feel sooo good after it that it doesn’t matter if you like a tomato!

My blog is looking for a new face: black or white. I can’t decide. I will try this one for a while and see how it works. Thank you for your patience and keep on reading! I know that I am not writing a lot but urge will come back!

Nous avons récemment prit le téléphérique pour rejoindre les montagnes autour de Kobe, ou l’on trouve un jardin de fleur et d’herbes. We recently took the ShinKobe ropewaup in the mountains. The ride was incredible, at the top we saw gardens and herb garderns.

Vue du telepherique/View from the ropeway

Vue sur les jardins couverts et l’ile artificielle avec l’aéroport de Kobe/View of the gardens and the man made island with Kobe airport